Ghana ministers pass away in helicopter accident
(MENAFN) A military helicopter crash in Ghana on Wednesday claimed the lives of all eight people on board, including two top government officials.
Among the deceased were Defense Minister Edward Omane Boamah and Environment Minister Ibrahim Murtala Muhammed. Others killed included Samuel Sarpong, vice chair of the ruling National Democratic Congress; National Security Adviser Muniru Mohammed; and four military crew members, according to a statement from the Ghana Armed Forces.
The helicopter, which departed from the capital Accra, was heading toward the mining town of Obuasi in the Ashanti region when it vanished from radar. Wreckage was later discovered in the Adansi area. Officials described the crash as one of Ghana’s worst aviation disasters in more than a decade.
An investigation has been launched by the military to determine the cause of the accident.
President John Dramani Mahama declared national mourning and ordered all flags to be flown at half-mast. Chief of Staff Julius Debrah said the entire country was “in shock and mourning.”
The aircraft involved was a Chinese-manufactured Z-9 helicopter, modeled after the French Dauphin, and regularly used by the Ghanaian military for transport and patrol duties.
Images from the crash site shared on social media showed smoldering wreckage scattered in a wooded area.
The incident follows other notable aviation accidents in the country, including a 2014 helicopter crash off the coast that killed three, and a 2012 cargo plane accident that left at least ten people dead after hitting a bus near Accra’s airport.
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